Golden ski cross racer David Duncan shoots for Olympic berth

Once he’s done getting air while flying down ski slopes, Dave Duncan would love to take to the air and fly helicopters, hopefully for the Canadian Forces.

“I love what they represent,” says the London, Ont.-born ski cross racer who has called Golden, B.C., home for the last three years.

But before he represents the country in a military uniform, he’d like to do it in an Olympic uniform. On Tuesday, he thrust himself into the 2010 picture by finishing third in a World Cup ski cross at St. Johann, Austria.

“I’m incredibly excited about coming third, but I’ve got to keep my eye on the prize and not lose focus over the next four races (that will decide Olympic berths),” a low-key Duncan said in a phone interview.

It was the first podium and just the second top 10 for the 27-year-old, who earned an aviation degree while skiing competitively for the University of Alaska.

Julia Murray of Whistler added a second Canadian medal Tuesday at St. Johann by finishing third in the women’s event. Duncan and Murray are part of a deep Canadian team battling with aerialists and mogul skiers for the 18 national freestyle team spots at the 2010 Games, where ski cross will make its Olympic debut.

With Canadian men extremely strong in aerials and moguls, it could be that only three male ski cross racers will go to the Olympics.

When Chris Del Bosco, a Canadian living in Vail, Colo., Stanley Hayer of Kimberley, B.C., and Davey Barr of Squamish, B.C., swept the podium on the Olympic course at Cypress Bowl last February, Duncan was a respectable 12th. And now he’s the only one of the four to podium in the first three World Cup races of this season.

“Coming into the season, I knew I needed some very strong results to qualify for the Olympics. It’s great to be on the Canadian national team, but we’re one of the strongest nations in the world and we’re not so much fighting the rest of the world as we are fighting teammates.

“I definitely need another podium to feel more comfortable about going to the Games.”

Del Bosco had three seconds last season in addition to his Cypress win.

Hayer, the 36-year-old veteran of the squad has 12 career podium results, and Barr was third at last year’s world championships.

As at the season-opening events at Innichen/San Candido, Italy, the rock-hard, water-injected course at St. Johann was more like an alpine super-G course with a few bumps thrown in than a true ski cross, which will include rollers, tabletop jumps and high-banked turns. Racers do single-run qualifying with the top 32 moving to four-skier heat racing. The top two advance out of each heat.

While first-time winner Simon Stickl of Germany qualified a stunning .74 seconds ahead of the next fastest skier, two through 32 were within 1.16 seconds of each other. Such stars as Hayer, Tomas Kraus of the Czech Republic, a 10-time World Cup winner and the 2005 and ‘07 world champion, and Lars Lewen of Sweden, a five-time World Cup winner in the last two years, didn’t even qualify for heat racing.

“That’s every race now,” says Duncan. “All it takes is one little mistake, one hiccup . . . and you’re not even qualified. That’s the level our sport is at.”

Duncan qualified only 25th and got “a little bit of luck” in his first heat when a couple of other racers tangled. In the final, he, Stickl, American Daron Rahlves, who would take second, and Swiss Michael Schmid, who won the season’s first two races, staged a terrific battle.

“The third turn . . . it was probably the hairiest turn. All of us were out of control, trying to fight through it, going three wide,” said Duncan, who called his third-place finish vindication after he separated his shoulder in a fall at St. Johann last year.

Head coach Eric Archer said it was good to see Duncan battle hard.

“Today, it was roller derby on ice. It was really tough. He had a little bit of breaks here and there, but he capitalized and kept his head strong and fought to the end.”

Del Bosco was 10th, Nick Zoricic of Toronto 27th and Barr 30th.

The women’s event was won by five-time World Cup champion Ophelie David of France. Meryll Boulangeat of France also finished ahead of Murray who, with a fourth earlier this season, basically has an Olympic spot assured. Danielle Poleschuk of Calgary was 11th, reigning world champion Ashleigh McIvor of Whistler 12th and Aleisha Cline of Squamish 16th.

The ski cross circuit now makes two stops in France — Les Contamines on Saturday and Alpe d’Huez Jan. 13 — before heading to Blue Mountain, Ont., on Jan. 20.

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.